Lower body construction for automobiles



Dec. 31, 1968 w. s. EGGERT, JR..

LOWER BODY CONSTRUCTION FOR AUTOMOBILES ATTDRNEY- I mvsmons WALTERS.EGGERT JR.

a 8 mm o:

Filed Feb. 17, 1967 Dec. 31, 1968 w, s, RT, JR, ET AL 3,419,303

LOWER BODY CONSTRUCTION FOR AUTOMOBILES Sheet Filed Feb. 17. 1967INVENTORS WALTER S. EGGERT, JR.

HENRY W.WESSELLS,1II

M/Q ATTORNEY Dec. 31, 1968 w, 5, EGGERT, JR, ETAL 3,419,303

LOWER BODY CONSTRUCTION FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Feb. 17. 1967 Sheet 3 l8 6INVENTORS WALTER S. EGGERT, JR. HENRY W.WESSELLS,1II

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofitlce 3,419,303 Patented Dec. 31, 1968ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure pertains to the constructionof a lower body construction or platform unit for automobiles,comprising integrated frame, floor and related components which can beoperated as a self-contained independent automotive unit adapted to takea completed upper body unit.

This invention relates to a lower body construction for automobiles andhas for an object the provision of improvements in this art.

Background of the invention The present invention constitutes adeparture from the two most common types of automotive bodyconstruction-the first being characterized by having a skeleton frame onwhich a body is assembled, and the second being characterized by havinga unitized frame and body-by providing a complete unitized lower bodyconstruction or unit comprising sills, floor, firewall, and engine andrunning gear supports, ready to take a finished upper body unit; and, infact, adapted to take any of a number of types of finished upper bodyunits. There have been some proposals for making a unitized lower bodyconstruction but the present invention is believed to provide a lighter,stronger and more versatile type of construction, as will be clear fromthe following description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention,reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Drawings FIG. 1 is a top plan view and section of a unitized lower bodyor platform construction, the section being taken on the line 1-1 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG.1, the section also being designated on FIG. 7;

FIG. 3 is a front side elevation, partly broken away at the forwardportion of the rear wheel housing zone;

FIG. 4 is a reduced top-front-side perspective view of the lower bodyassembly structure shown in FIGS. 1 to 3;

FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the assembly shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a load diagram in plan, showing how whee-l loads aretransferred into the lower body assembly structure;

FIG. 7 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 7-7 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 8-8 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 9-9 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 10-10 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 11-11 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a partial enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 12-12of FIG. 3;

FIG. 13 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 13-13 of FIG. 3, the section also being shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 14-14 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a partial enlarged vertical transverse section taken on theline 15-15 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of the right side portion of FIGS. 8, 9 or10, with parts of the upper body assembly structure shown in phantom assecured thereto.

Summary of invention Before a detailed description is begun thefollowing comments on the general features and advantages of the presentconstruction may be helpful.

' Briefly, the lower body construction hereby providedand sometimesreferred to as an underbody constructioncomprises essentially a platformwhich combines the function of frame, floor, engine and chassissupports, wheelhouse elements, cowl dashboard or firewall elements, andseat supporting means. This platform constitutes the bottom cover for anupper body unit which is separately constructed while open at the bottomfor access and later assembled on the lower body unit or platform.

The present platform concept allows normal bodyframe constructiontechniques to be applied in mounting components on the platform, inplatform and body handling, and body drop assembly. It is fullycompatible with existing plant layouts. It saves repair orhospitalization of the bodies subsequent to final assembly. Labor,equipment and management operations are reduced and more advantageouslydivided. I

It also permits the mounting of engine, running gear, seats, andassociated equipment to form an operable vehicle which can be movedabout without plant transfer equipment, as for example, to be moved toseparate assembly areas or plants to receive different upper body units.

The platform concept permits organizational separation of platform andbody groups. They can operate almost independently. This providesconsiderable saving in time and cost by reducing interdependence andinteraction of the two groups, and also of the. styling group duringdevelopment and redesign or facelift programs. This separationfacilitates more effective long range planning by providing componentswhich can be developed and changed according to separate timingschedules.

The present lower body or platform unit can be manufactured in a mannersimilar to a frame, turned over for assembly of components underneath,and easily accessible for all installation operations. The upper bodyunit or balloon mounts on the lower body unit at a number of keyattachment points, much as on a common frame, these points being on sillelements and providing for resilient isolation to allow flexibility andto provide tunin g between platform and body.

In order to provide maximum body space the floor is disposed at a lowelevation and is almost fiat and provided wtih a tunnel which carriesthe drive shaft, eX- haust line, fuel line, brake lines, wiring and thelike.

Box-like through-running transverse seat mount bases are utilized wtihthe floor to provide transverse beam structures to add strength andstiffness, i.e., reinforcement.

Front longitudinal members are provided which have rear inner portionswhich extend inward and rearward along the lower edges of the floor andtunnel to carry front end loads into the floor and tunnel structure andalso have outer torque box portions which run into the side sills anddash structure to carry front end loads into the dash and side sillstructures.

The load is redistributed between the tunnel and side sills by means ofthe front and rear box-section cross members which serve as seat bases;also by the transverse beam structure at the fire wall.

The mechanical chassis components, engine, power train, front and rearsuspension, steering components, heater system, air conditioning system,liquid cooling systern, exhaust, controls, electrical equipment, seats,floor covering and trim, spare tires, bumpers, and the like can bemounted on the lower body unit or platform before the upper body unit isbrought into assembly with it.

The cowl and sills are formed with enclosed box portions to provideadded strength and rigidity in final assembly and to control openingsduring manufacture.

Since the floor is carried by the lower body unit, the upper body unit,or body proper, or balloon, will be open at the bottom for access andcan be trimmed out and doors and windows installed before the body isdropped on the platform.

The seal can be made between the upper and lower body units by resilientstrip means, tape or rubber, and the units secured together at thestandard mountain points provided.

After body drop, the car is completed, preferably by making the minimumnumber of electrical connections required and or the addition ofcomponents such as lamps, instruments, linkages and hydraulic lines asmay be required or as preferably left for the final assembly.

Small and nonplanar areas are provided to minimize noise. The fact thatthe platform accepts various body types and designs makes the effects ofnoise reduction programs much more stable and permanent.

A great gain from interaction of body and platform is the ability totune to minimize shake. From the point of view of overall bodyrigidity-a substantial factor in shakethe platform is designed to carrythe major part of bending loads. Because of its generally flatsheet-like between-sill construction it will also take a largeproportion of the torsional loads encountered in a sedan type car. Thebody, even though rubber-mounted on the platform, will provide theremaining torsional stiffness required.

For convertible bodies, doublers in the sills of the platform willprovide needed additional bending stiffness. Torsional stiffness, due tothe ladder type structure of spaced transverse beams between side sills,will be superior to that of present type convertibles.

The platform is designed to provide air ducting through side members andcross members to supply air to the rear seat without depending onthrough air flow under the front seat. Such an arrangement isparticularly well adapted for future climate systems, i.e., those addedafter the car is sold.

Description of preferred embodiment Referring now to the specificembodiment shown in the drawings, there is a main floor panel having amedial tunnel portion 22, the fioor panel also having front upturnedportions forming an inclined foot panel 24 and a vertical dash orfirewall panel 26.

At its rear end the main fioor panel 20 has an upturned portion 28which, with a forward downturned portion 30 of a rear seat panel 32,forms a transverse closedbox-section beam structure 34.

Rearwardly of its rear seat support portion, the rear seat panel 32 hasan upwardly extending seat back supporting portion 36 and beyond that anelevated generally horizontal portion 38. Medially, the rear seat panel32, in front of the back-support 36, has a tunnel portion 40 and ahigher tunnel portion 42 in line with the beam 34 thus reinforcing it.

Rearwardly of the rear seat panel 32, there is a rear bridge deck panel44, this panel having at its forward end an angular portion 46 which,with the angular portion 36, 38 of the rear seat panel 32, forms athrough-running transverse closed-box-section rear beam-like structure48.

Rearwardly of its elevated bridge portion 50, the deck panel 44 has adownturned portion 52 and beyond that a rear deck portion 54 whichwidens toward the rear (from the narrow bridging portion) and isprovided with raised portions 56 around an inner depressed portion 58. Abox-section stiffening frame structure 60 extends across the rear endand up along the sides. Side portions widen forwardly to provideadditional strength and stiffness and anchorage to the rear side silland rear wheelhouse structures, as will be described.

Throughout most of its length the main floor panel 20 on the sides isprovided with stiffening elements such as the pressed-in longitudinalcorrugations or ribs 62.

In the dash or firewall region the upturned portion of the floor panel20 is provided with vertical side flange portions 64, these beingreinforced by outer vertical members 66 and 68 to form verticalclosed-box-section post or strut structures 70.

A cowl deck plate 72 is secured to the tops of the struts and to thedash structure to form boxed-in rigid cowl structure.

An inverted channel-shaped front seat base 74 is secured across thefront floor panel and forms therewith a closed-box-section transversebeam 75. At the rear on each side the beam 75 is provided with openings76 to supply 'air to the rear passenger space.

Forwardly of the dash structure and connected therewith inboard of itssides, there are provided front longitudinal sill structures 80. v

The sill structure 80 on each side comprises a lower panel component 82,an upper panel component 84, and a side panel component 86, these partsin the front sill region proper (FIG. 7) being suitably shaped andconnected to form the closed-box-section front sills 80.

The lower front sill component 82 extends downwardly and widens towardits rear end to form a rearwardly extending portion which follows alongthe inside of the front end of the floor tunnel 22; and from that aninwardly extending transverse portion 92 which, at the end, overlaps asimilar extension from the other side beneath the front transverse seatbase beam 75.

The upper front sill component 84 widens and rises toward its rear end,as at 94, and is secured to the front of the dash panel 26.

The side front sill components 86 is very wide vertically and forms apart of the front wheelhouse, having an opening 96 for Wheel supportsand on the inner side of which a shock support anchorage 98 is secured.At the upper edge it is provided with a wide outurned flange 100.

Toward the rear end the side component 86 of the front sill spreadslaterally at 102 and is secured to the front of the dash structure. Thepart 102 continues rearwardly in a portion 103 which overlies the sideflange 64 of the floor panel and with the panels 66 and 68 completes thepost or strut structure. At the bottom it widens and extends downwardlyinto a corrugated protion 104 which is secured to the bottom of thefloor panel 20.

A front vertical transverse panel 106 and an edgestiffened interiorsupport structure 108 are connected between the front ends of the frontsill structures 80.

It will be noted that the front sill structures at the rear end formlarge almost-closed transverse beam structures 110 which provide openbox spaces which communicate with the open spaces of the front sillstructures already described.

Forwardly of the front seat base beam 75, as shown in FIG. 8, the mainfloor panel 20 has an upwardly extending side flange portion 112 on eachside, this being turned out horizontally and channeled at the top in alateral portion 114. The doubler extension 104 of the front sillstructure which extends back this far is shaped to conform to the floorpanel configuration. A side plate 116. and a bottom plate 118 are soformed and secured to these side flange parts as to form a fullyclosed-boxsection sill 120 of considerable size. The interior space ofthe side sill communicates with the space of the strut post 70 andrearwardly with the space within the seat base section beam structure122 along the lower edge of the tunnel 22.

As shown in FIG. 9, the same side sill formation is maintained exceptthat the doubler 104 is no longer present and that the seat base beampanel 74 is secured to the fioor panel and side sills. It can also beseen that the rear transverse portions 92 of the front sill structureare overlapped and secured to add substantial reinforcement to the seatbase beam 75.

As shown in FIG. 10, the same side sill formation is maintained and thesides of the rear seat panel 32 are secured thereto.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 12 and 13, rear side sill structures 124 areprovided on each side, each mainly comprising an outwardly open channelsection member. At the forward end, FIG. 12, it is flanged at 126 andattached to the rear upturned portion 28 of the main floor panel 20. Itis closed on the outer side by a rear wheelhouse panel 128 which at thefront end has an outturned flange portion 130 which is attached to theflanged end of the main side sill plates 116 and 118.

The rear side sill is offset inwardly from the main side sill, areinforcing transition member 132 being interposed in the offset zone.This is secured to the floor panel portion 28, as by a flange 134, tothe side sill panels 116, 118, and to the rear wheelhouse panel. Thestructure is reinforced at the rear by a cupped member 136 secured tothe flanged end of the transition reinforcing member 132.

The rear side sills 124 follow and at the top support the panel portions36, 38, 50 and 52. At the rear they have the frame stiffening members 60secured to them. The lower edge follows and stiffens the lower edge ofthe rear wheelhouse. At its upper edge the wheelhouse is stiffened by anangularly bent formation 138 (FIG. 14) or, if desired, by addedstiffening elements.

The lower body unit or platform is provided with a plurality (twelveshown, FIG. 4) of body supporting seats 140 where, as shown in FIG. 16,the body parts 142 are sealed and secured, as by bolts 144 withresilient elements 146 and sealing means therebetween.

FIG. 6 shows, in load diagram form, how loads are distributed throughoutthe platform by the structure which has been described. The frontlongitudinal sills 80 transfer loads at the front end through the frontend structures 106 and 108. At the rear they transfer loads throughelements 90, 92 and the tunnel structure into the front transverse beam75; and through the fire-wall and transverse beams 110 they transferloads into the side sills 120. The transverse beams 75, 34 and 48transfer loads between the tunnel 22, 40 and the side sills 120, 124 andthe wheelhouse panels 128. The frame 60 carries loads around at therear. The Wide horizontal panels 20, 32, 36, 38, 50, 54, 56 and 58, withtheir bent and corrugated elements, serve well to transfer shear loadsbetween the more rigid sill, tunnel and beam elements. The bridge beam48 takes strut loads from the rear wheel supports.

It is thus seen that the invention provides a unitary lower body unit orplatform of relatively light weight and of relatively simple parts butof great strength and capable of being finished out to operate as anindependent unit; and which permits the bottom-open upper body unit tobe constructed and completely finished and trimmed and dropped on thelower body unit. The manner in which the platform unit hereby providedsatisfies the ohjects and provides the desired advantages will beobvious from the above description.

We claim:

1. A unitized lower body unit or platform adapted to function as anindependent motive entity if desired and to take a finished open-bottomupper body unit, comprising in combination:

transverse panel structure comprising main floor, rear seat and back,bridge deck and rear deck;

said transverse panel structure having a rigidifying medial tunnelstructure extending through said main floor to said rear seat back; sidesill structures combined with said transverse panel structures; rearwheelhouse panel structures combined with said transverse panelstructures and said side sill structures;

a firewall structure comprising a transverse panel structure, hollowpost or strut structures on the sides, and low transverse hollow beamstructures at the bottom on the sides of the medial tunnel structurezone;

front longitudinal sill structures secured to the firewall structure,transverse panel structure, and side sill structures;

a front end structure connected between said front longitudinal sillstructures and including rearwardly projecting portions secured to thesides of the tunnel structure of the main floor panel structure;

means combined with said main fioor panel structure to form athrough-running closed-box-section transverse beam at the front seatlocation;

and formations in said transverse panel structures formingthrough-running closed-box-section transverse beam structures at thebottom front and top back of the rear seat location.

2. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said main floor panel structure has upwardly and outwardlyflanged sides forming the inner sides and top of main side sillstructures;

and panel structure forming with the flanged sides of said main floorpanel structure closed-box-section side sill structures.

3. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said main floor panel structure at the front end has an upwardlyextending portion forming an inclined floor foot panel and a verticalfirewall panel.

4. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said front sill structures include portions at the rear endwhich form portions of said hollow strut structures and part of saidlower horizontal firewall beam structures.

5. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said rearwardly projecting portions of the front sill structuresform, with floor panel parts, closedboX-section beam structures whichprovide added reinforcement along the sides of the tunnel structure.

6. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said rearwardly projecting portions of the front sill structuresextend to the front seat beam and include transversely extendingportions secured across and below the tunnel structure to reinforce thefront seat beam.

7. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said front sill structures include outer vertical componentswhich form wheelhouses and rearwardly projecting portions which formpart of said firewall struts.

8. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said side sill structures are hollow from said firewallstructure to said front seat beam, and have the interior space connectedwith that of the front 7 8 seat beam and with the spaces of saidfirewall struts References Cited and beams to form all ducts.

9. A unitized lower body unit as set forth in claim 1:

wherein said transverse panel structure at the rear end has a deepdished portion with raised sides; 5

and a reinforcing rail structure extending around the rear end and sidesof the transverse panel structure BENJAMIN HERSCH Pnmw'y Exammen andsecured at the front ends to said rear wheelhouse L. DANIEL MORRIS, JR.,Assistant Examiner. panel structures.

3,021,172 2/1962 Fiala et a1. 296-28 3,110,518 11/1963 Wessells 296-28

